We started our homesteading odyssey more than 35 years ago with the desire to live more simply, sustainably and in harmony with natural world around us. Over the years we have changed our location four times finally coming to rest at this special place in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Nature's solutions

As the earth’s climate changes we will see many changes
but none so dramatic as pests and diseases as the global temperatures warm. In just
the short time we have been here (20 years) we’ve seen winter become milder,
snowpack melt earlier reducing irrigation water, and one of the most insidious
of all – the survival of insects once held in check by winter’s cold
temperatures.

The ecology of North America’s forests has always
included the effects of insects but now, with the warmer winters, we are seeing
forest changes on a landscape scale. Where once pine beetles and spruce bud
worms came in cycles affecting mostly the weakest trees we now see giant swaths
of forest killed by these insects. The winters are no longer cold enough nor
long enough to reduce the insect numbers to the point where their effect on the
forests is limited. Add to that the drought caused by the reduced snowpack and
we have forests that are not healthy enough to resist the insects.

In June I started noticing a new insect infestation on
our farm – grasshoppers. Each step I took sent dozens of them sailing away from
me. We weren’t alone. Area ranchers resorted to aerial spraying of pesticides
in an attempt to save their pastures and hay fields. We had no intention of
using conventional pesticides with their detrimental effect on beneficial
insects like bees so I spent several days researching natural control methods.
I ordered (from M&R Durango) a
biological insecticide specific to grasshoppers which was safe to other
insects, animals and birds and allowable on organic crops. It arrived just as
the monsoon season arrived delaying application for weeks. I was about to throw
in the towel on grasshopper control this year when Mother Nature handed me the
solution.

For the last several years in early August we are
treated to the arrival of a flock of wild turkeys. The flock usually includes a
mother hen and six to eight of her young chicks. As soon as we notice them, we
put out cracked corn to encourage their presence and survival. This year it
wasn’t long before more flocks started arriving drawn to the corn and the
grasshoppers, one of the turkey’s favorite foods. Now, at the end of August,
the young turkeys are nearly full-sized, the grasshoppers are nearly gone
and I am reminded that Nature often provides solutions if you just look.